337 Becomes Part of the SL Art Center (SLC)

For more information contact:
Emily Brunt, Director of Communications
801-328-4201
emilyb@slartcenter.org

Salt Lake Art Center announces affiliation with 337 Project

Salt Lake City, Utah – Salt Lake Art Center announced today that 337 Project will be absorbed into the Art Center as a new community outreach programming arm. Founded by the Art Center’s Executive Director, Adam Price, in 2006, 337 Project has a significant track record of award-winning programming in the community. The agreement was approved unanimously by the boards of both organizations.

As Price notes, “in many ways this is a natural marriage. The 337 Project’s continued focus on community programming will instantly give Salt Lake Art Center a greater ability to project its presence out into the places where people work and live—and then invite them back to our permanent location at the corner of West Temple and South Temple for a continued dialogue about contemporary art.”

According to Salt Lake Art Center Board President Catherine Kanter, “The Art Center and the 337 Project have had a successful collaborative relationship in the past and we are thrilled to have the 337 Project become a valued part of the Salt Lake Art Center that will support our ongoing mission. We look forward to building on the 337 Project’s energy and we see this as a great opportunity for the Art Center to expand its community outreach.”

During his tenure at the 337 Project, Price worked with local artists to create contemporary art in nontraditional contexts. In perhaps the best-known instance, Price gave 150 Utah artists three months to transform a two-story building into a collective work of art. The resulting creation was viewed by over 10,000 visitors in the six days that it was open to the public. Subsequent 337 Project undertakings include the creation of an Urban Gallery on a series of garage doors at local charity Neighborhood House, and the transformation of an old vegetable truck into a mobile gallery bringing original artwork by local and national artists directly to Utah’s schools.

In 2009, 337 Project received the Mayor’s Service to the Arts Award, the Best of State Medallion for Arts in Education, the Best of State Statute for Overall Winner in the education category, and the Best of Broadway Award for Service to the Arts.

About Salt Lake Art Center

Founded in 1931 and located just steps from Temple Square, the award-winning Salt Lake Art Center is one of the region’s hidden gems, sporting three gallery spaces, an outdoor sculpture patio, screening room/lecture hall, resource library, and classroom spaces. Throughout its history, Salt Lake Art Center has exhibited works by leading artists ranging from local favorites LeConte Stewart, Alvin Gittins, and Anna Campbell Bliss to internationally known artists such as Diego Rivera, Andy Warhol, Gary Hill and Sophie Matisse. Exhibiting the best contemporary visual art from around the world, the Art Center provides its visitors with an opportunity to explore the human experience in ways that are both exciting to the senses and deeply thought-provoking. The Art Center rounds out its offerings with a lively mix of community presentations, film screenings, educational classes, and events celebrating the vibrant local art scene.

Art Center Location, Hours, and Parking

Salt Lake Art Center is located at 20 South West Temple at the corner of 100 South on West Temple between Abravanel Hall and Salt Palace Convention Center. Telephone (801) 322-4323. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11:00 am to 6 pm, Friday 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, Saturday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, and closed Sunday, Monday, and Holidays. Extended summer hours to be announced. Free parking for members available in the Marriott Hotel parking lot across the street. Admission is always free.

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AN OPEN LETTER ON THE FUTURE OF THE 337 PROJECT

May 21, 2010


Dear Emily,

When Dessi and I first decided to turn over our building at 337 S. 400
E. to a group of Utah artists, we really only intended to participate
in that one event, and then to go back to our ordinary lives. But
something happened along the way. We discovered for ourselves the
incredible artistic community here in Utah; formed lasting
friendships; shared in the joy (if only vicariously in my case) of the
creative process; were bowled over by the reaction of 10,000 visitors
to the 337 Building. Over the life of the project, our attachments
grew sufficiently strong that, when we finally demolished the 337
Building, neither Dessi nor I was willing to let go of that wondrous
experience entirely. As a result, it became clear that the demolition,
far from serving as the ending--the grand finale--we had originally
intended, now would mark something more subdued, but also more
magical, "the end of the beginning."

Since that time the artists of the 337 Project, now an official 501(c)
(3) charity, have continued to create amazing work that has repeatedly
struck a responsive chord in the broader community. Whether in the
exhibition Present Tense: A Post-337 Project, in multiple iterations
of the Urban Gallery at Neighborhood House, on the Art Truck as it
takes original commissions of contemporary art to dozens of schools
each year, or in the upcoming Contemporary Masters: Artist-Designed
Miniature Golf (which will open finally this June 18--mark your
calendars!), the 337 Project artists have forever changed the way
contemporary art is viewed in Utah. And throughout it all, Dessi and
I have continued to happily play our own little part, shuffling papers
into the wee hours of the morning after a full day of practicing law
(me) or designing exciting posters and teaching materials for 337
Project events after a full day of laying out pages in Salt Lake
magazine (Dessi).

This past January, I left the practice of law after 13 years to become
the Executive Director of the Salt Lake Art Center. Although the
change has been a happy one for me, it did raise the immediate
question of what should happen to the 337 Project. After a series of
lengthy and serious deliberations, I am absolutely thrilled to
announce that the boards of both organizations have determined
unanimously that the 337 Project should become a part of the Salt Lake
Art Center.

So what does this mean for 337 Project fans? In short, nothing and
everything.

"Nothing," because the 337 Project, now a program of the Art Center,
will continue to function as it always has. I'll still shuffle
papers, Dessi will still design posters and--most important--local
artists will still be asked to create work in locations all around the
area for the benefit of the entire community. We will continue to be
assisted in this endeavor (just as we always have been) by a host of
dedicated volunteers, including especially the 337 Project trustees,
each of whom has agreed to stay on in some capacity after the
transition (thanks to all of them: Tiffini Widlansky, Amy Coady, Josh
Kanter, Brian Seethaler, and Rick Van Wagoner).

"Everything," because as a program of the Art Center, the 337 Project
will finally have the kind of administrative and staff support that it
has always needed but never had. With these greater resources, I am
hopeful that we can strengthen the offerings of the 337 Project to
bring you even more incredible experiences, and, where appropriate, to
tie 337 Project programming to exhibitions and other events occurring
simultaneously at the Salt Lake Art Center. The changes at the 337
Project will occur slowly and organically over the next six months;
there is not now--and never has been--a master plan. I ask for your
patience as we transition operations in areas ranging from our e-
newsletter to community outreach to the implementation of new 337
events (did I mentioned Artist-Designed Miniature Golf opening at the
Salt Lake Art Center this June 18?).

The 337 Project is probably too old now to think of this latest
transformation as some kind of a new beginning, but it is equally
clear that, for that incredible energy that started at an old,
dilapidated building at 337 S. 400 E. during a cold morning on Feb.
10, 2007, neither is there any end in sight. Dessi and I thank you
all from the bottom of our hearts for your years of friendship,
advice, and financial support--and we look forward to seeing you in
the near future, both at a re-imagined Salt Lake Art Center, and at a
337 Project event coming to a location near you.

Sincerely,

Adam and Dessi Price
337 Project

337 Project | c/o Adam Price | 170 S. Main St., Suite 1500 | Salt Lake
City | UT | 84101